1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to armored building modules and panels, such as for walls and roofs, that provide armored shelter to protect people and equipment from ballistic projectiles and mortar attacks, and in particular to armored building modules each made from multiple, co-parallel, plates arranged in a stack but spaced apart and held together along their sides by side elements. In this invention, plates serve also as structural flanges, and side elements comprise structural webs to permit each module to function as a structural beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Above-ground shelters for protecting people and/or facilities in a war zone generally require protective armor to mitigate damage that can be caused by impacts and blasts from various ballistic projectiles and mortars. Historically, bunkers have been protected against mortar threats by constructing roofing using a combination of logs and dirt, and later by timbers supporting one or more layers of sandbags. More recently, building units of massive concrete and thick plates of high-strength steel have been used for these purposes. These prior arts have relied upon heavy materials, and more recently on expensive materials. None of the prior arts have taken advantage of structures made mostly of common-grade steel plates. And the prior art has not provided rapidly deployable steel structures suitable for protecting against mortar impacts and consequent mortar blasts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,468 to a “Building Panel Module” discloses building panel modules made of steel sheets formed to provide internally cantilevered baffles that are said to provide deflecting and energy absorbing means against incident ballistic projectiles. The building panel modules disclosed therein also each have front and rear sheets interconnected only at longitudinal ends by end caps, not along longitudinal edges. The end caps are what structurally provide resistance to bending caused by blasts from external explosive devices that might be used by terrorists or others to gain entry to a building constructed of such modules. From each of the sheets comprising front and back panel elements within a module are inwardly extending legs that lie perpendicular to planes defined by the front and back panels and which extend to internally situated flanges which function as baffles lying parallel to the front and back panel elements. Each module shape disclosed therein includes at least one of the front or back face panels being strengthened by an I-beam configuration comprised of the aforementioned webs and flanges where two adjacent sheet elements are welded together longitudinally. Each of these I-beam shapes give strength only to a single face panel as they do not touch or attach to the opposing face panel. Therefore, the I-beams strengthen the front and back face panels individually but not the interconnection of the face panels, as the front and back face panels are interconnected only at the longitudinal ends of a module assembly.
In contrast to that invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,468, the current invention has the following different features:                a) there are no I-beam shapes in a transverse cross-section of a module of the current invention;        b) generally flat plates whose faces lie parallel to a longitudinal axis (defining longitudinal directions) of a module in the current invention are rigidly tied together along the longitudinal length of a module, thus providing a single continuous beam-like structure as opposed to two parallel beam-like structures that only attach together at their longitudinal ends;        c) a transverse cross-section of a module of the current invention shows two side lap overhangs that form arms of a generally Z-shaped structure, wherein these arms are spaced apart from one another in two orthogonal directions each perpendicular to longitudinal directions of the module;        d) as a result of the feature in item “c” above, when one panel module is positioned edge-to-edge (i.e. side-by-side) between two neighboring modules forming at least a portion of a panel, it can be removed by a combination of transverse translations of the module;        e) each module of the current invention is comprised of at least one longitudinal channel (e.g. pocket) bounded by two oppositely-facing generally flat plates (or flanges) and by two oppositely-facing side members, wherein the channel can receive inserted energy absorbing means (for absorbing projectile and blast energy) such as a metallic mesh, a plastic foam, one or more longitudinal and metallic tubes, and/or similar additional materials that can absorb kinetic and thermal energy from a mortar shell and blast;        f) seen in transverse cross-section, each module is constructed of two, three, four, or more co-parallel flat plates (or flanges) of metal connected at least at one of two sides (e.g. transverse edges) by one of two respective metal sides, as opposed to not being connected at all along the sides (e.g. transverse edges);        g) there is no plate, flange, or web in the current invention that has an inwardly cantilevered edge as viewed in a transverse cross-section;        h) there is at least one continuous plate or flange that is co-parallel with the first and second (e.g. front and back) plates and that is also connected to both of two transversely opposing side members;        i) side lap overhangs and end lap overhangs in the current invention respectively provide means for side-by-side and end-to-end nesting of adjacent modules in a manner that prevents clear-through seams existing between adjacent modules; whereas these lap overhangs don't provide such means if one module is flipped in orientation, relative to the others, around a transverse axis;        
U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,790 to a “Shelter with Armoring Composite Walls and Doors”, discloses a shelter designed with both an interior panel having at least one metal side, for the purpose of electromagnetic shielding, and an external armoring panel, with an airspace in between these inner and outer panels, and wherein these panels are supported along their outer edges by a metal framing structure, and wherein the armoring panel is made to float by being mounted with energy absorbing material. There is no teaching or suggestion within that patent on the configuration or use of building modules, nor any teaching of the internal structure of the armoring panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,362 to “Constructional Panels” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,485 to a “Load Bearing Pre-Fabricated Building Construction Panel” both disclose building panels that have a generally Z-shape to their transverse cross-sections but require either an interlocking relationship or an overlapping securing relationship with adjacent modules, and neither teaches or suggests the addition of metallic plates positioned between their front and back panel elements. Also, with the configurations disclosed in both these two patents, when one panel is positioned edge-to-edge between two neighboring panels, it cannot be removed by a simple translation of the panel in a direction perpendicular to a face of the panel. U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,987 to “Sheet Panels for Easy to Assemble Structures” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,808 both disclose interlocking building modules that when assembled in an edgewise relationship lock together which unfortunately prevents removal of a damaged intermediate module by simply translating the damaged panel in a direction perpendicular to the face of the panel without disturbing the neighboring panel modules. What is needed for sheltering troops and equipment from ballistic projectile and mortar attacks is a panel designed to be quickly and easily repaired by removal of just the damaged one or more modules and without disturbing the neighboring, undamaged panel modules.
Within the prior art of the related field of armor for protection against high-speed ballistic projectiles, laminates of different materials have been used that consist of bonded-together layers of various materials such as ceramics, woven fabrics, composites, non-metals, and high-strength metals. Examples of these disclosures include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,198,454; 4,550,044; 4,566,237; 4,822,657; 4,948,673; 4,965,138; 5,326,606; and 5,763,813. But none of these are ideally designed to protect against mortar shells that travel at lower speeds and may have higher explosive energies. Furthermore, none of these patents teach or suggest the design or use of modules from which to construct a panel. New and improved armor-providing building modules are needed in order to be low-cost, practical in their manufacturing and deployment, and effective against modern weapons.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,235 to a “Shock Destruction Armor System” teaches the use of multiple spaced-apart metal plates by which to break up and destroy the force of impact of a projectile by shock hydrodynamics. It disclosed an armor system particularly adapted for use on various military vehicles to destroy a long rod penetrator or shaped-charged jet by the principle of shock hydrodynamics. It does not teach or suggest armor-providing building modules, and particularly not their structure, and this is generally the case with the prior art in armor design such as found in the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,962,976; 4,036,104; 4,108,072; 4,355,562; 5,114,772; 5,149,910; 5,221,807; 5,654,518; 5,723,201; 5,792,974; 5,847,308; 6,009,789; 6,021,703; 6,047,626; 6,216,579; 6,345,563; 6,497,966; 6,619,181; 6,642,159; 6,698,331; 6,793,291; and US Pat. Application Numbers 2001/0032541; 2004/0083880; 2004/0159228; 2004/0197542; 2004/0237763.
Thus, a need exists for a better armor-providing building module. In addition, armor-providing building modules need to be low cost to manufacture, to transport, to setup and install, to repair, and to remove.